Chapter 54 #2
“I hate you,” she whispered between ravenous kisses.
Zadriel smiled. “I don’t care.”
Her lips parted, his tongue tangling with hers as he breathed her in.
Tasting her. Savoring the feel of her body against his.
Hands sliding down her lower back to cup her rear, squeezing that generous curve.
Thin, gossamer material bunched between his fingers, slipping up her thighs and revealing more of her silky skin.
Zadriel groaned—she wore nothing underneath.
Without thought, he lifted her, adoring her little squeak and the way she instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist. Every fiber of his being wanted her.
Needed her. An ache pulsing in his veins, as if she’d set him aflame all over again, and he welcomed the burn.
Needed more. His sharp teeth grazed her lip and Mora’s breath hitched at the pinch of delicious pain, her eyes drifting closed, her hips grinding against him.
Dear gods. Zadriel’s breeches were suddenly too tight, his cock straining painfully against the ties.
“I shouldn’t want you,” she breathed, tipping her head back while his lips wandered over her jaw, her curls tangling against the Mother Tree’s bark.
The wind steadied, playing in his hair and twisting around them as if they were the center of the world.
“You have no idea how glad I am that you do.” Zadriel kissed her throat, his canines throbbing, her pleased sighs coaxing the fire building in his blood.
He grinned when she shivered and pressed harder against him, tilting her head to give him better access, as if it were instinct to offer her neck.
“I’ve wanted you since I first laid eyes on you in Moldenna,” he said against her skin.
“If all I can have is your ire in a dream, I will accept it gladly.”
Mora went still. “Why? What do you gain from being with me?”
“What do I gain?” He pulled back to the sight of wide, amber eyes, her lashes lined with unshed tears.
The meadow became a distant thing, her stare more radiant than the Mother’s aura could ever hope to be.
There was nothing but her, and he would do anything to soothe whatever ache brewed in her heart.
“Is it the crown? My power?” She spat the words as if they soured her tongue. “What do you want from me?”
Her breath tickled his lips, the beat of her heart trembling against his chest. Zadriel pressed her more firmly against the Mother Tree and freed a hand.
“I want you, Little Witch,” he said reverently, brushing a stray curl away from her cheek.
“Your indomitable spirit, your inner fire... Whatever parts of yourself you’re willing to give.
Any piece of you is more than I deserve. ”
Mora leaned into his touch, her hand rising to cup his. “The Fates tease me with this fantasy,” she murmured, her focus slipping past his shoulder to trail over the wall of bramble and the shadowy trees behind it once more. A warm smile tugging on her lips. “It’s only us tonight.”
“As it should be.” Threading their fingers, he brought them to his lips, pressing a kiss against her knuckles.
Hoping she believed him. A crown, power, those things meant nothing—all Zadriel wanted was to know her.
To have her. Even for an imagined evening in a long dead meadow.
“Tell me what you want, Little Witch, and it’s yours. ”
Mora closed her eyes, taking a slow, deep breath. Savoring his scent. “Make me forget,” she whispered, gracing him with that glowing stare. “Make me forget everyone who came before you.”
When his lips pressed against her hand again, a quick flash of gold pulsed through her veins, seeping from her fingers to bleed into his own.
Heat surged through him, spilling into his blood until it wrapped around his heart and throbbed in his chest. He inhaled deeply, her delicious aroma filling his lungs.
An animalistic need to claim her—to give her what she wanted and erase all who came before—overtaking him.
Mora wiggled in his grip and tugged at his laces, trying to pull his breeches free.
“Are you in a hurry?” he chuckled.
The knot came undone and she smiled in triumph. “Yes.”
“Did you not want my name first?” he asked, sliding her down his body until her feet hit the ground. “An explanation for why you find yourself wanting me so badly?”
Mora’s touch lingered, her finger slipping back and forth over the top of his trousers. “This isn’t real, Fae. I don’t care why.”
“Then what would you like to call me, Little Witch?” He leaned down to grace her crown with a gentle kiss. “Is Fae the word I’ll hear on those pretty lips when I steal your breath?”
Tugging his pants until they fell to his knees, Mora leaned into his embrace. “Perhaps, for tonight, I’d simply like to call you mine.”
Mine.
Mother damn him, Zadriel loved the sound of that.
“You can call me whatever you’d like.” There was an ache in his soul when he released her to remove his tunic and breeches, the garments peeled off and tossed aside swiftly so his hands could find their way back to her and tangle in her long, curly hair.
The dark strands slipped through his fingers while he cradled her face, angling her so he could taste her lips again.
“You’re mine too, Little Witch, until the last star falls from the sky, even if I never lay eyes on you again. ”
A soft touch trailed over his stomach, her hand slowly running along his hard muscles.
“You’re built like a god,” Mora said, nipping his lip.
Emboldened by his rumbling groan. She deepened the kiss, her hand trailing lower, slipping past the rim of his undergarments.
A gasp entangled her breath when she just barely wrapped her finger around his hard length. “Are you a god?”
“Fuck,” Zadriel panted, her tightening fist heaven. He leaned his forehead against hers while she worked him, half-tempted to let her play, but he needed her out of that dress. Now. “Can I take this off?” he asked, fingering the thin straps holding up her gown.
She looked up at him through her lashes, nodding once.
“I want your words, Little Witch. Can I see all of you?”
“Only if you take these off as well.” Her bright amber eyes flicked to his undergarments, hand moving up and down his shaft once more before she let go, a needy ache pulsing in the wake of her touch.
“Anything you want, remember?” One quick tug, and those thin straps snapped beneath his fingers, delicate fabric falling down Mora’s waist. His palms followed to her hips, the dress tearing so easily, snow-white material shimmering as it fluttered to the ground.
While he peeled off his last piece of clothing, Zadriel’s eyes lingered on her swollen lips before they explored every glorious inch of her body.
A goddess. That’s what she was. Her glistening brown skin kissed by moonlight and caressed by the meadow’s gilded aura, as if she were the true Heart of Arcadia.
Mora ran a finger over her collarbone, catching her long curls, teasing peeks of her breasts.
Yet those beautiful eyes were far away. He tucked a finger under her chin and guided them back to him, until starlit obsidian was lost to a sea of honeyed amber.
A stunning clash of darkness and light. “You are the most exquisite creature. A goddess fallen from the heavens.”
Mora’s breath caught in her throat. “Then treat me like a goddess,” she said, pressing her palm against his chest. Teeth sinking into her bottom lip as she truly took him in. His heart thrummed, strong and steady, warmth pulsing beneath her touch. Another flash of gold in their veins.